My mom and I were exploring the backroads on our way from Muncie to Tipton a few weeks ago when we passed through the town of Frankton. As we drove, Mom pointed out a weathered train station on Lafayette Avenue she’d been past before. I wasn’t sure what would come of them, but I snapped a couple of quick photos. A few weeks later, I was excited to hear a radio report that the station would be saved! Thankfully, Frankton’s forgotten relic has a future.
The town of Frankton was laid out in 18531 and was officially incorporated in 18712. Built twenty-one years later, Frankton’s depot served as a stop on a Pennsylvania Railroad branch that connected the community to Kokomo3. Today, that stretch is abandoned.
Frankton’s depot served until around 1960, when it was slated to be demolished4. Fortunately, it survived after George Harper bought the building from Penn Central Railroad and moved it across the road. Harper died before he could completely restore it5, but ownership transferred to Robert Harrison. In 1972, Leroy McKinley purchased the structure and repurposed part of it as a real estate office6.
The old Frankton depot changed hands several more times before its most recent owner decided to sell it to the up-and-coming Frankton History Club7. These days, the club has big plans: they aim to raise $10,000 to restore the building and transform it into a museum- the first of its kind in Frankton’s history8!
I couldn’t be happier that the old Frankton depot is on its way to restoration. Also, I couldn’t be in more awe that the building I’d hardly given a second thought to as I took some haphazard photos would be in my public radio feed just a few weeks later! Sometimes, you stumble upon something that seems like it’s fading into obscurity. Out of nowhere, then, a new chapter unfolds. Frankton’s old depot is one of those places: it isn’t just a relic of the past. Soon, it will be a symbol of preservation and renewal for this tiny town in northern Madison County.
Sources Cited
1 Forkner, J. & Dyson, B. (1897). Historical Sketches and Reminiscences of Madison County, Indiana. book. Anderson, IN.
2 (See footnote 1).
3 Ouellette, T. (2025, February 27). Frankton History Club raises money to purchase historic train depot. Indiana Public Radio. Web. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
4 (See footnote 3).
5 Albert, B. (1978, May 12). Frankton Depot – an unknown historical monument. The Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 11.
6 (See footnote 5).
7 (See footnote 3).
8 (See footnote 3).
